malfeasance

“But in the absence of outright fraud, it has never been thought that the fact that parties have initially resorted to the courts gives judges power to set aside later settlement agreements and impose others on the parties. And certainly when it is the Executive Branch of the Government that has made the settlement as representative of the public interest, only the grossest bad faith or malfeasance on its part could possibly support such a step. Either the Court is saying the Government was guilty of such misconduct—a charge totally without support in the record—or the Court has grossly overreached the permissible limit of judicial power.” J. Douglas, Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 386 U.S. 129, 157 (1967).